Swim or Drown

Chapter 33 Swim or Drown

POV Jadis Stokes

"We are running out of supplies, Washington is no longer a viable option to collect supplies, and the surrounding areas of the city have already been looted. Our garden won't be enough and it's only a matter of time before all the food runs out, Jadis." Brion says with a poker face crossing his arms as he looks at each one present and then looks directly at me.

Currently, I am reunited with all my people due to the lack of supplies that we are facing due to the people who took control of the city of Washington, where we regularly supplied ourselves.

"We must remain hidden and not draw their attention to us. The people of Washington outnumber us in every way and a confrontation with them would mean our death." I say with my hands behind my back.

"Whatever you decide, Jadis, we Scavengers will follow you." Brion says nodding in my direction.

*

****Click to see image****

*

"I'll figure it out, I'll make a new deal with the CRM in exchange for supplies." I say clenching my fists behind my back.

"What could we offer them that they don't have?" Brion asks me confused.

"Information." I say turning my back on everyone and heading to my workshop where I have several sculptures made of scrap metal. At that, I start to push one of the sculptures to the side revealing a small hole in the ground, I quickly pull a backpack out of the hole and place it on the ground.

Inside the backpack were some weapons, a few supplies, and most important of all, a long-distance radio with a pre-established frequency.

Months ago, I made a deal with some people belonging to a large community called the Military Civic Republic, or CRM for short. They would send us resources in exchange for giving them healthy or newly infected people, the exchanges were a success, however, we have not received any more supplies from them for a couple of months.

The rules stated that I couldn't communicate with them unless it was extremely important, I guess this is a very important situation for us. At that, I turn on the radio and press to talk.

"This is Jadis, is anyone copying me?" I ask for the radio, however, I do not receive an answer and I try again to communicate. "This is Jadis, in the vicinity of Washington, does anyone copy me?" I ask again. In that, interference is heard on the radio until a voice answers from the other side.

"This is a restricted frequency." It's all they say on the other side.

"I can collect information from Washington in exchange for supplies." I say quickly on the radio but no one responds, at this, I lie on the ground for several minutes looking at my scrap sculptures before I start destroying them.

In the middle of my outburst, the radio starts transmitting again which makes me stop in my tracks. "So Jadis, do you have information from Washington?" I hear a female voice on the radio.

Hours later.

I find myself walking down the highway towards Washington as it begins to get dark, in the distance I can see some lights coming from the city, and yet the closer I get to the city the number of walkers I encounter decreases.

I watch with fascination as large barricades made of vehicles piled on top of each other surround much of the city. The roads are the only access points to the city that are not blocked and these have public lighting working, illuminating the entire road towards the city.

A large banner that says 'Welcome to Washington D.C.' perches right above me as I approach a group of people in black suits standing guard behind armored vans.

*

****Click to see image****

*

One of the men notices my presence and approaches me with his gun drawn and points at my head. "Welcome to the Empire." He says and then begins to search me for weapons or any bites. After this, they put handcuffs on me and put me in a van while they began to talk on the radio.

"We have another refugee." Says one of the men over the radio.

"Understood, proceed with protocol." Another voice on the radio answers.

In that, the vehicle begins to move towards the city and the closer we get I see many barricades made of vehicles stacked around many streets with men watching from the top of the buildings.

"It's impressive isn't it?" Says one of the men next to me. "A few more months of service and I will have enough points to buy an apartment of my own near the city center." He says with a smile on his face.

At that, my eyes widen in shock as we move through the center of the city where I see some buildings with people living in them and with electricity. "It is more lively during the day, at night civilians are prohibited from going out on the street." He says.

"How many people live here?" I ask pretending to be nervous. This place is bigger than I thought.

"Thousands of people and every day more and more people arrive. The empire will be the future of mankind, the hope of the human race, and our salvation." He says with fanaticism in his voice as his hand rests on a strange logo on his vest.

"It must be nice to live in this place." I ask trying to search for more information.

"It is, as long as you abide by the rules." He says nodding his head. "Little by little we are expanding the residential areas and building more barricades, I would gladly give my life for this place and for Your Highness." He says, then looks at me carefully as the vehicle pulls up in front of a large building.

"That is?" I ask stunned.

"The Pentagon." He says as he opens the car door and helps me down. After this, he returns to his vehicle and begins to drive away while some guards wait for me.

Minutes later, I find myself in some kind of interrogation room as a woman starts asking me different kinds of questions. "Names and surnames, what profession did you have before the day of the collapse? University degrees? What are you good at?" she asks as she offers me a plate of food along with a glass of water.

Given this, I answer all the questions they ask me, omitting some things while she writes everything down on a laptop.

"So you were a history teacher?" She asks me as I nod my head.

In that, another person enters the room and asks me many questions regarding my specialization and indeed they confirmed that I was not lying about being a teacher.

"It is the protocol, many people lie to get more privileges." She says before I can ask her.

Shortly after, she frees me from my handcuffs and hands me some papers with all my information along with a brochure on how the whole place works. "Welcome to the Empire Professor Jadis Stokes, if you have any questions you know where to find us." She says shaking my hand.

I was given a small room with a mat, a bathroom, and a closet full of clothes. Afterward, I lay down on the mattress as my hands start to tremble a bit and I heave a heavy sigh.

This place is very dangerous, any wrong move and they will find out that I am a spy, I must be very careful and keep collecting information from this place, my people depend on it.

Then I start to read the brochure that was handed to me. "Swim or drown, huh?" I say out loud as I continue reading.

3 days later.

I find myself in a large dining room eating slowly as I look around, there are hundreds of people, and the food in this dining room is free, however, for better food, there are restaurants in the Pentagon shopping area. Everything in this place works with points and to get points you have to work.

"I heard that the Empire is expanding to other communities outside of Washington." Says one of my "friends" who is also a teacher.

Another one of them approaches us. "My husband was in the operation, he did not give me details but thanks to it now we can get more fruits and fresh crops." She says with a smile. "And even gave me an apple." She says showing off.

"I'm so envious of you." Another of the women comments.

So the Empire is taking over the nearby communities and expanding, this is very dangerous for my people. I expect Brion to follow my instructions and stay hidden while I'm on this mission.

"This food is shit!" He exclaims a person throwing their food on the floor and standing up as he climbs on top of a table. "Stop being complacent, I'm tired of cleaning bathrooms and eating this food, together we can take over this place if we all work together." He says with a crazy look on his face. "He won't be able to against everyone, right?" He asks as he holds his head.

"Poor him." I hear someone whisper behind me.

"Very traitorous of him, there is no place in the Empire for him." I hear another whisper.

At that moment, the guards who were in the dining room rushed at him and threw him to the ground before handcuffing him and taking him away while he kicked and screamed.

"Where are they taking him?" I ask with interest.

"Nobody knows, but when someone is taken away, that person is never seen again." Someone answers behind me.

"Swim or drown." One of my co-workers responds with a nod to herself.

Minutes later, I am in my assigned classroom as I begin giving the children history lessons.

"Humans by nature will always follow the person who tells them what to do, no matter if it's good or bad..." I continue with my lesson.

In my short stay, I have realized that the education system is manipulated to turn children into loyal followers, this is very disturbing. However, I must continue with the lesson so as not to arouse suspicion.

"Just like Your Highness." One of the children says with emotion on his face when the lesson ends. "I want to be like him when I grow up." He says puffing out his chest proudly.

"That's not fair! I want to be like him." Another boy gets up from his seat pointing at himself.

"I will be a soldier of peace when I grow up and protect Your Highness as my dad does." Another boy exclaims. At that, numerous children begin to speak at the same time and my gaze focuses on Henry who currently has his head down and his fists clenched.

"Silence!" I exclaim causing the children to be silent. "Class over, Henry, stay a moment." I say as the children start to leave the classroom and I walk over to him. "You can tell me what's bothering you." I asked placing my hand on Henry's hair. "According to your file you are a guest in the Empire, could you tell me about your home?" I ask.

"I'm not supposed to talk about it with anyone." Henry says looking both ways.

"Don't worry, I won't tell anyone." I say placing a smile on my face. In that, he approaches me and I crouch down to be at the same height.

"The big bad wolf came to the Kingdom..." Henry says before he freezes looking behind me.

"I hope I'm not interrupting anything." I hear a childish voice behind me. At that, I quickly turn around, and before me is a kid along with several armed guards.

"Your... Highness." I pronounce slowly as I get down on my knees. It's the first time I've seen the leader of this whole circus. I need to gather as much information as I can about him, this is my chance. "What brings you to this classroom?" I ask with a polite smile on my face.

He stares at me for a few moments until a smile spreads across his face. "Henry is an important guest for the Empire, I care about his education." He says. "What's your name, miss? I don't recall ever seeing her before." He asks tilting his head slightly.

"Jadis Stokes, the newly hired history teacher." I answer while the boy just nods his head.

"Nabila is waiting for us, Henry." That is all he says before turning around and walking out of the room as Henry starts following him along with his guards.

Minutes later, as I am gathering my things from the classroom and analyzing what just happened, several guards enter the room and lunge at me placing a black bag over my head as my consciousness fades.